A Farewell To Amy

After her loss a number of articles appeared about her and what she thought about losing.

Amy Schneider reflects on her historic 'Jeopardy!' run and what it means to her personally: People 'don't think there's something wrong with me'
Yahoo Entertainment
By Raechal Shewfelt
January 27, 2022


Jeopardy! juggernaut Amy Schneider's 40-day run on the show, which ended Tuesday, gave her much more than the nearly $1.4 million she won there. It also helped give her self-acceptance.

"A few months ago, deep down, I simply did not believe that I could ever really be accepted for who I was," the record-breaking contestant wrote in a piece for the Jeopardy! website. "That is, I had come to believe (not without some difficulty) that at least some people accepted me: my family, my girlfriend, my inner circle of friends. But I always believed that most people would see me as trans people have so often been seen: a freak, a pervert, a man in a dress, a liar, mentally ill."

Schneider, who is transgender, said she had prepared herself for rejection when her episodes aired, but she was happily surprised that it never came.

"Sure, there have been a few isolated voices trying to bring me down, but the overwhelming reaction has been of support and acceptance," Schneider wrote. "People actually believe me when I say who I am. They don't think there's something wrong with me. And because of that, for maybe the first time in my life, I'm starting to think there really isn't anything wrong with me either."

She has been is a great asset to the community, millions upon millions turned into the show and saw just a typical middle age woman and not a “drag queen” or a big burly man in a dress. Just a pleasant middle aged woman.

"The acceptance I've received is the fruit of long, violent struggles — some famous, some forgotten — in which generations of trans people have risked their lives to secure their basic right to exist. Frances Thompson and Billy Tipton, Lili Elbe and Dora Richter, Sylvia Rivera and Felicia Elizondo, Laverne Cox and Gavin Grimm, and so many more who are lost to history, have devoted themselves to creating the conditions that exist today, where a trans Jeopardy! champion can be, for most people, uncritically accepted and celebrated as the person she is," Schneider reflected. "And the most rewarding thing I've gained from my Jeopardy! run is the ability to finally say that I, too, have helped that cause. I haven't thrown rocks at the police, or fought for my rights in the Supreme Court; all I've really done is chase a lifelong dream of appearing on Jeopardy!. But I knew that I was taking on a burden of representation, and I will always and forever be proud to say that I've done my little part to ease the path for future generations of trans people to live free, open, and happy lives, and that feeling is worth more to me than any financial gain could ever be."

In an article on the Jeopardy website she had this to say,

AMY SCHNEIDER: WHAT I LEARNED FROM MY JEOPARDY! EXPERIENCE

Today, my Jeopardy! run enters the history books. It will appear in the archives as a 40-game win streak, running from Nov. 17, 2021 to Jan. 26, 2022, with winnings of $1,382,800 (plus $2,000 for the second-place finish in game 41). But for myself, none of those statistics are quite right: when it started, when it ended, what I gained.

When did my Jeopardy! run start? For me, it started in childhood, when my parents first began watching the “new guy,” Alex Trebek, hosting a revival of a quiz show that had gone off the air a few months before I was born. Like so many people, Jeopardy! has been in the background of my life for as long as I can remember – a calm, comforting routine: 3 contestants, 61 clues, 3 Daily Doubles. Potent Potables, Potpourri, “genre.” Every weeknight, month after month, year after year. It was a place that valued the same things I’d been taught to value: curiosity, collegiality, just a hint of pedantry, and above all, a sense that knowing things was fun! I always knew that I would find myself there someday, and while I didn’t know what would happen when I got there, I knew I wouldn’t regret finding out.

[…]

But the acceptance I’ve received isn’t due to any special qualities in myself (or at least, those qualities aren’t the most important reason for it). The acceptance I’ve received is the fruit of long, violent struggles – some famous, some forgotten – in which generations of trans people have risked their lives to secure their basic right to exist. Frances Thompson and Billy Tipton, Lili Elbe and Dora Richter, Sylvia Rivera and Felicia Elizondo, Laverne Cox and Gavin Grimm, and so many more who are lost to history, have devoted themselves to creating the conditions that exist today, where a trans Jeopardy! champion can be, for most people, uncritically accepted and celebrated as the person she is. And the most rewarding thing I’ve gained from my Jeopardy! run is the ability to finally say that I, too, have helped that cause. I haven’t thrown rocks at the police, or fought for my rights in the Supreme Court; all I’ve really done is chase a lifelong dream of appearing on Jeopardy!. But I knew that I was taking on a burden of representation, and I will always and forever be proud to say that I’ve done my little part to ease the path for future generations of trans people to live free, open, and happy lives, and that feeling is worth more to me than any financial gain could ever be.

She is fantastic!

As Harvey Milk said if we want to bring change we need to be visible and she was visible! As Miqqi Gilbert said one time as Fantasia Fair, there is “out” and then there is “OUT!” 

And then there is the money, after taxes it will be something like $750,000!

How 'Jeopardy' contestant Amy Schneider plans to spend her $1.4 million winnings
CNBC
By Alicia Adamczyk
January 28, 2022


"Jeopardy!" contestant Amy Schneider's historic 40-game hot streak finally came to an end on Wednesday, when she lost after amassing a total of $1,382,800 in winnings.Though the Oakland, California-based software engineering manager will ultimately take home much less than that — CNBC estimates that between federal and state taxes she'll net around $755,000 — she still has a healthy chunk of change to spend. And Schneider has a few ideas for her winnings.

A day after her final episode aired, the gameshow champ told Extra TV she plans to travel and save up for a house. Her winnings could go a long way toward a down payment on a home if she stays in Oakland, where the typical home cost is $953,536, according to Zillow.

"We're gonna go to Ireland and go on a little bit of a shopping spree, get some designer clothes, and things like that," she said.

It also says a lot about homes in California that even after winning $1.3 million that you can’t afford a home.

And then there is the man that she lost to, the man in the neon glasses…

Rhone Talsma talks 'Jeopardy' buzzer strategy, those neon glasses, dethroning Amy Schneider
USA Today
By Elise Brisco
January 27, 2022

Rhone Talsma is $29,000 richer and a new "Jeopardy!" household name after dethroning history-making champion Amy Schneider. 

The 29-year-old librarian from Illinois "expected an intense response" after winning Wednesday's "Jeopardy!" game against the No. 2 winner in consecutive games. In reality, he was not prepared for the attention.

"Jeopardy!" episodes are taped in advance, so he's kept his victory under wraps since November,  but viewers are just now discovering Talsma. USA TODAY talked to him Thursday, the morning after his winning appearance.

"I wish I had a social media manager right now,” he says. He shares how he beat Schneider, and what was going on in the brain behind those spectacular glasses during the show.

Talsma's win Wednesday leaned largely on a true Daily Double about mythology, asking what the Greek goddesses of vengeance are more commonly called in Latin (answer: the Furies) and a "Final Jeopardy" that leveraged his geography knowledge: The only nation in the world ending in "H" (answer: Bangladesh).

Those two moments changed everything. 

"I was just so shocked; there was this huge wave of catharsis," Talsma says, describing the moment Jennings announced him as the winner. "All of the emotions that I would have felt during the course of the game all came flooding back at once … I’m laughing, my heart rate is racing, I’m smiling, I’m almost crying.”

There is some talk on social media that she lost on purpose and for me it does matter. I have a feeling that all the great Jeopardy winners got tired of winning and ended it. According to Ken Jennings,

And then the five games are recorded — almost in real-time. There are a few stops in the games to correct things and to let the contestants know if they are being consistently too late or too early on the buzzer — they really take pains to try to help everyone do their best. But unless there is a long pause to resolve a scoring question or fix a tech problem, the little interruptions don’t take much longer than the commercials would when the show airs.

The show maintains the illusion that the winner is returning from “yesterday’s game,” even though it ended only 15–20 minutes ago. The pace if frenetic. The contestants get up to play, and before they know it the game is over. But all of the contestants — win or lose — have a great time. Contestants are requested to bring a few changes of of clothing (shirts and ties, blouses, scarves, etc) so that they will have a somewhat different outfit on when they come back from the green room 20 minutes later for “the next day’s” game.

Winning must take lot out of you, after all they do a whole week of shows in one day followed by another week of shows, followed by a week off and it must get tiring. She won second place, a million and a half dollars, and the next milestone was about another 30 games away. She will be back again for the Tournament of Champions.

It wouldn’t be like taking a dive because it is not for money but for a desire to move on.

Anyhow, Rhone Talsma was just a one game winner and bragging rights that he beat Amy.

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Update 12/26/22

I got to met her in person when she gave a talk at Sacred Heart University in Bridgeport, I was a guest of the head of Public Safety at the university.